Capping machine



Oct. 24, 1939. J. E. JQQSSQN CAPPING MACHINE Filed Jan. 27, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Patented Oct. 24, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application January 27, 1937, Serial No. 122,555

' In Sweden January 28, 1936 .4 .Claims.

The present invention relates to a capping machine, preferably provided withtools for the manufacture as well as for the application of caps in succession.

The machine may be constructed for so-called full automatic operation, i. e. the caps are manufactured, conveyed to the capping tool and applied by the same to the respective bottle fully automatically, and moreover, the bottles are moved through the machine automatically. The last mentioned operation, however, may be done also by hand. The capping tool of the machine may comprise one or two, or, if desired, several so-called capping heads. The machine is characterized by a simple, attractiveand, in relation to its size, very efiective construction. It is specially suitable for small dairies, in which milk is bottled only to a rather little extent. For such operation it is preferably constructed with one single capping head; for capping, for example, beer bottles the machine may be equipped with two or more such heads and also with tools for inserting sealing or packing discs in the caps.

' Capping machines are known, in which the one, lower part (the matrix) of a punching and bending tool for manufacturing the cap from a blank strip is mounted in a sledge, which is movable up and'down and which also carries a capping head,

in the up-and-down motion of which, i. e, towards and away from the bottle, the said tool member participates. In these machines, however, the head is mounted right below the punching and bending tool and on account of the construction of the machine the caps have to be turned during the transport down to the head, the said transport being done by means of a drop trough. The

other upper part of the punching and bending tool is mounted-in another sledge and each of the two sledges has its driving mechanism.

The machine according to the invention has only one sledge. The various tools are mounted in the same side by side. The turning device for the caps, which is a factor of unsafeness in the known machines, has been dispensed with and, together with the drop trough, been replaced by a conveying device feeding the caps independently .of their weight, which makes the feeding reliable,

especially when light metal caps are concerned, which are used more and more and the little weight of which makes the feeding through a drop trough unreliable, since the trough, at least at the capping head, must be a horizontal channel, .in' which it is too easy for the caps to stop too early.

An embodiment of the machine according to the present invention is shown, by way of example, in the accompanying, drawings in which Figure 1 is a side view and 'Figure 2 is a' vertical section of the machine in question.

Figure 3 shows a detail.

Referring to the drawings numeral I indicates the frame, 2 a standard on which the sledge 3 is adapted to slide up and down. .4, .5 indicate the punching and bending tool and .6 the capping head, both of which are of known constructions. The lower punching member .5 is mounted in a supporting member 7 rigidlyconnected with the sledge. The head 6 is mounted on the opposite side of the sledge. The upper punching member 4 is secured in a block 8 carried by a bracket 9 secured to the standard. Said bracket forms a guide for two slide bars H), which at their lower ends are secured to the sledge 3 and at their upper ends rigidly connected with each other by means of a cross piece I I. By means of a motion transforming mechanism, for example a camgrooved roller I2 and a roller [3, running in the cam groove l4 and mounted in the cross piece I I, the rotation of a shaft l6, which ismounted in the standard 2, can be transmitted as a rectilinear 'up-and down motion to the sledge. Springs provided between the cross piece II and. the bracket 9 and springs I50. provided between bracket 9 and sledge 3 moderate the motion of the sledgaso that the sledge gets a smooth run. The shaft 16 receives its motion from a main shaft l1 via a transmission gear I 8--22. The capping pressure of the head 6 around the cap is, as usual, obtained by pressure ona plunger 25. In this embodiment said pressure is produced by means of an angle lever 26, which is turnable on a pin 21 and, at 21c, rests against the upper part of the plunger. By meansof a draw bar 28, a plate 29, which is provided with an opening for the standard, a roller and a cam disc 3l, the latter being rigidly connected with the roller l2, the lever receives the motion necessary for actuating the plunger25. The lever isshown in one extreme position, the pressure position, in full lines, and in the opposite extreme position in dash-and-dot lines. Other details of the head are not mentioned in this connection, since they are known before. On the draw bar there is a compensating spring 32 and an adjusting wheel 33.

'For supporting the bottle during the capping operation there is, as usual, provided in the frame an elastically supported plate 34. The drawings also show a so-called machine guiding star 3411 to be connected tola conveyer for the bottles.

The standard 2, which alternatively may be replaced by other linear guiding means, is mounted in the part 35 of the frame in such a manner that it can be raised and lowered. The said part is around the standard by m eans' of a clamping screw, which has ahandletfi. By meansof teeth 31 on the standard, a. pinion 38 mounted in the frame, and a wheel 39 on the axle of the pinion,

formed as aclamping sleeve, which is tightened the standard, and with it, the capping head including other members mounted on the standard may be vertically adjusted and be adapted to bottles of various heights. In order to facilitate such adjustment the frame has a stationary support 40 for a bottle and the standard a preferably adjustable shoulder (screw) 4|, the distance of which from the support 40 is chosen in such a manner as to correspond to and thus determine the working distance of the capping head from the plate 34. By means of a groove and spline connection 43 the shaft I6 may be adjusted axially in the wheel hub 42, i. e. move with the standard during its adjusting movement and simultaneously be in engagement with the wheel 22.

46 indicates a pipe conveyer, in which the caps are moved pneumatically from the punching tool to the capping head around the intervening elements of the machine.

Of other parts '48 indicates the roller for the cap blank strip, which roller is mounted in brackets 9. Numerals 49 and 50 indicate feeding mechanisms for the strip, which are mounted at the supporting means I, and indicates a blow pipe leading from a fan, not shown, for introducing the finished cap into and moving'it within the pipe conveyer. The latter is connected to an introduction opening in the head 6 in a manner known per se. Said opening is located in the cutaway part in Figure 2, and therefore its position is indicated by dash-and-dot lines 53in the same figure. In order to prevent the blown-in cap from falling out of the head before the bottle has reached its proper position the said head may be provided with a suction device of a known kind, which in such a case, for example by means of a pipe 58, is connected to the head 6 (Figure 3 The machine operates as follows:

From a belt pulley 54 the driving power is transmitted by means of the machine elements l'l22 and IE to the cam -grooved roller l2. The same, by meansof the roller [3, drives the cross piece II and the sledge 3, respectively,up and down. Figure 1 shows the sledge when in its upper position, and Figure 2 whenin its lower position. The lower punching member 5 and the head6 participate in this motion. Each time the lower punching member meets the upper punching member a cap. is formed, which, when the lower punching member returns, is liberated and is blown through the pipe conveyer 46 into the head 6. At the same time the head 6 moves down over a bottle placed on the plate 34 and gets into a capping position around the top of the bottle. The lever 26, by the action of the cam disc 3|, presses the plunger 25 downwards, so that the cap is tightened around the top of the bottle.

The lever and the plunger return, the sledge and the head 6 are raised, so that the bottle can be exchanged and at the same time the lower punching member 5 moves upwards in order to form another'cap; As a consequence the punching and bending tool and the capping head work alternatingly. In order to provide for free vertical run between the lever 26 and the draw bar 28 there is a groove 59 (Figure 3) in the upwardly directed arm of the lever.

If the capping head is to be adjusted in. vertical direction for another size of a bottle, for

example a lower bottle,- the clamp screw is released by means of the handle 36 and the height position of the standard is changed by means of the wheel 39, afterwhich a bottle of the size to fwrong adjustment and following crushing of bottles or damage of the machine. By means of a wheel 55 the shaft l6 may be turned by hand to test the correct adjustment and movements of the several elements driven by said shaft.

Of course the details may be varied in several respects within the scope of the invention. Also, the machine may be supplemented with other tools. For example, it may be provided with tools for inserting sealing discs in the caps. A supply pipe for the same'is marked by dash-and-dot lines, at 51, in Figure 1.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1.'A capping machine, comprising a frame, a support adjustably mounted on said frame, a sledge slidably guided on said support, means to reciprocate said sledge, said means being arranged to be displaced with said support, a capping head carried on said sledge to be brought into operative position by movement of said sledge in one direction, a cap forming die on said sledge, a second stationary cap forming die rigidly mounted on said support to cooperate with said die on said sledge'upon movement of the latter in opposite direction, and means to convey the formed caps to said capping head.

2. A capping machine, comprising a frame, a hollow standard mounted on' said frame, a sledge slidably guided on said standard, a main driving shaft, a vertical shaft disposed rotatably in said hollow standard and in driving connection with said main shaft, means associated with said ,VBI'! tical shaft and sledge to transform the rotation of the former into a vertical reciprocation of the latter, a capping. head on said sledge with its working surface in a downward direction so as to be brought into operative position by the downwardstroke of said sledge, a cap forming die on said sledge with its working surface in upward direction, a second cap forming die rigid with said standard and having its working surface in downward direction to cooperate with said die on said sledge during the upward stroke 'said latter means being connected to said actuating member so as to allow for free reciprocation of the latter with said sledge.

4. A capping machine, as claimed in claim 2, 7'

comprising further an angle, lever pivotally mounted on said sledge toactuate said capping head, a cam disc on said vertical shaft, a draw bar having a guide element in engagement with said cam disc and being connected to one arm of said angle lever so as to operate the latter and the cappinghead when the capping head is in Working position and to allow for free reciprocation of said angle lever with said sledge. w JOS EF JONSSON. 

